For more than two years now, IAR has presented its Audio for Picture (AFP) Awards Festival to showcase student post production projects. AFP is not officially a part of the audio-post production course given in the last quarter, but it has become an important, exciting opportunity for using the tools students learn in the course. Students choose any pre-existing video piece and recreate all aspects of audio. The high level of competitiveness and ambition demonstrated by the student projects distinguished this Fall’s AFP Awards from previous events. Nell Gwynn, creator of the AFP, remarked, “Normally, we have short form projects, but this time virtually all submissions were two minutes or more. The top three prizes were hotly contested, and having missed the top three by only a half a point, the judges recognized Juan Rivera’s project as an audience favorite.” The range of projects included scenes from movies, TV shows and animated films, such as ‘300,’ ‘I Am Legend,’ ‘The Notebook,’ ‘The Chappelle Show,’ ‘Ice Age’ and ‘Shrek.’ Nell made the important point that “The AFP forces students to raise their standards and creativity, and gives them a final project or ‘demo reel’ to showcase their talents if they want to pursue audio-post as a career.”
The Fall 2008 AFP Winners are:
1st Place
Kevin Perrin “I Am Legend”
2nd Place
Sean Oates & Daniel Riofrio “Shrek: Muffin Man Scene”
3rd Place
Danny Molano “The Crow”
Outstanding Achievement Awards
Musical Composition
Francis Debbane
Automated Dialog Replacement
Mike Bludson
SFX Editing
Nick Cutrone, Matt Collucci
Original Score
Juan Rivera
Audience Favorite
Juan Rivera
Current IAR student, Christina LaRocca, is a singer and songwriter and performs with the soul and funk group Heavy Weather. The Brooklyn native is joined by Dorian Lake (percussion/vox), Carl Gallagher (guitar), Danny Gallagher (bass), Josh Steinhart (keys) and Mike Sutton (drums). They formed in 2006 and the group’s unique blend of musical styles and compelling lyrics has brought them popularity in the New York City venue circuit, with performances at Crash Mansion, CBGB’s, The Knitting Factory, Arlene’s Grocery, and The Bitter End. Their debut album, ‘Miles of Mud,’ will be released on October 16th, 2008 with a CD release party and show at The Bitter End. Christina comments about the album: “There’s no specific theme except that life will have its ups and downs and you just have to laugh, eat an orange, and not let it get to you.” Heavy Weather was a New York City Finalist at “Emergenza,” the international battle of the bands competition. They were also the winners of IAR’s Next Level 6 Competition at Arlene’s Grocery and used the prize, a 1,000 CD package from Disc Makers, to manufacture their debut album. Christina decided to attend IAR because, “I hated being in the studio and not knowing how everything was working. It’s like taking your car to a mechanic and paying him lots of money to do something you know nothing about. If I’m going to be a recording artist, I should know how to record live music. I want to super thank IAR for helping Heavy Weather. I am extremely grateful to them for not only teaching me a lot of cool stuff but for helping me jump-start my career in the biz.” For more information on Christina LaRocca & Heavy Weather, visit heavyweathermusic.com.
Ryan Berry is a student at IAR in his second quarter. He is also an accomplished musician and entertainer under the name Presence. He has competed in over 25 major hip-hop battles across the country including ScribbleJam 2005 (Preliminary Champion) in Cincinnati, OH, Brainstorm 2004 (Co-Champion) and 2002 (Champion) in Seattle, WA, Chicago All City 2002 (Champion) and 2003 (Co-Champion), MTV’s “The Cypher” Pilot filmed in NYC, 2004 Breeze Battle Finalist in NYC, and 2004 Mic Control Finalist in NYC. He also started his own label, Praxis Records, and released two albums, Recreation Bait in 2004 and R.Y.E. (Ready Your Ears) in 2006. Ryan developed his latest album R.Y.E., “To offer people my interpretation of this art form (hip-hop), and hopefully accomplish that through crafty lyrics, inventive production, and a general warmth that lets who I am shine through the songs.” He decided to attend IAR for a number of reasons: “I was sick of paying other people to do what I should just take the time to learn myself! That way, I put myself in the position to make a living in the field of music as well as pursue my dreams of being a recording artist. I’m trying to gain all the knowledge I can as far as music is concerned so that the next album can hopefully draw a buzz and get some distribution.” For more information on Presence, his music and battle clips, and for booking, visit myspace.com/nyryeb.
